Air door control



J. 5. JESSEE 3,516,201 June 1970 AIR noon common Filed March 5, 1969 I ff; NVENTOR;

United States Patent 3,516,201 AIR DOOR CONTROL Joseph S. Jessee, Dayton, Ohio, assignnr to Chrysler Corporation, Highland Park, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 3, 1969, Ser. No. 803,792 Int. Cl. Ef 11/02 U.S. Cl. 49-324 4 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Door operating mechanism including a bell crank pivotally connected to a support. One arm of bell crank is connected to door and other arm is engaged by lever pivotable to move the bell crank from a position wherein door is closed to a position wherein the door is opened.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to mechanically operated mechanisms, and more particularly to a door operating mechanism for operating an air door in an air conditioning unit.

In air conditioning units, such as room air conditioning units, for example, there is normally a provision made for introducing outside air into the room being conditioned and/ or for exhausting stale air from the room. It is necessary to provide one or more control mechanisms for selectively opening and closing such door or doors and there are many mechanisms for accomplishing such door action. However, many of such mechanisms are complicated and relatively expensive. The present invention obviates many of the disadvantages of known mechanisms.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Briefly, this invention comprises means to open a door when moved to one position, the means being self-locking when moved to said one position.

One of the primary objects of this invention is to provide a door operating mechanism for an air conditioning unit, the mechanism, when moved from a first position to a second position, becoming self-locking so that it remains in the second position until the lock is overridden manually.

Another object of this invention is to provide a mechanism of the class described which is economical in construction and eificient in operation.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS In the drawings, in which one of several various embodiments of the invention is illustrated,

FIG. 1 is a plan view of a door operating mechanism constructed in accordance with this invention, the mechanism being shown in one position and certain parts being broken away for clarity;

FIG. 2 is a section taken along line 2-2 of FIG. 1; and

FIG. 3 is a fragmentary view of FIG. 1, showing the mechanism in a diiferent position.

Like parts are indicated by corresponding reference characters throughout the several views of the drawings.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Referring now to the drawings, a door operating mechanism is generally indicated at 1 in FIG. 1. It includes a support or housing 3 preferably formed of sheet metal. Housing 3 includes a top 5, end walls 7 and 9, a rear lip or wall portion 11, and a front lip or wall portion 13. Walls 7 and 9 are provided with flanges for facilitating 3,516,201 Patented June 23, 1970 connection of the housing to an air conditioning unit 17.

A door 19 is provided for opening and closing an air passage, which may be an air intake passage or an air exhaust passage, for example. Biasing means such as a spring 21 are provided for urging the door toward a closed position. A cable or wire 23 is connected at one end to door 19 and extends through a tubular guide 25 attached to side wall 7. The other end of wire 23 is attached to a control mechanism 27 which controls movement of the cable and door.

Control mechanism 27 includes double armed member or bell crank 29 pivotally connected to top 5 by pivot bearing 31. The wire 23 is connected to the outer end of one arm 33 of bell crank 29. The other arm 35 of the bell crank comprises a first portion 37 extending in one direction from the pivot 31 and a second portion 39, approximately equal in length to portion 37, extending from the first portion in a difierent direction. The outer end of portion 39 is curved as indicated at 41.

The bell crank 29 is adapted to be moved from the position shown in FIG. 1 to the position shown in FIG. 3 by an actuating lever 43. The inner end of lever 43 is pivotally connected by a connector 45 to top 5. Lever 43 extends outwardly from pivot connector 45 through an elongated opening of slot 47 in front lip or wall portion 13. The midportion of lever 43 carries a roller or bell crank engaging member 49 which is adapted to engage an inside edge portion 51 of arm 35. As shown, member 49 has two peripheral edge or washer-shaped portions 53 which are located on opposite sides of arm 35 adjacent edge 51. An inner central portion 55 of member 53 rides and is in engagement with on the edge portion 51.

The member 49 on lever 43 is located in such a position that when the lever is placed in the position shown in FIG. 3, the spring 21 exerts a force, on bell crank 29, which tends to rotate lever 43 in a counterclockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 3. The edge 57 of slot 47 prevents counterclockwise movement of lever 43 beyond the FIG. 2 position.

Assuming the parts are in the position shown in FIG. 1, operation of the mechanism is as follows:

The outer end of lever 43 is manually swung to the right as viewed in FIG. 1. In so moving, the lever carried member 49 engages edge 51 of arm 35 and rotates the bell crank 29 in a clockwise direction as viewed in FIG. 1. Clockwise movement of bell crank 29 causes wire 23 to move to the right and door 19 to be opened.

As the inner portion 53 of member 49 moves out along portion 39 of arm 35 and reaches the curved end portion 41, the lever no longer is the motivating member for opening the door 19. The spring 21 tends to pull the bell crank counterclockwise back to its FIG. 1 position and in so doing causes the outer end 41 of arm 35 to bias the member 49 and lever 43 counter clockwise out of the way. However, the end 57 of slot 47 prevents further counterclockwise movement of the lever. Accordingly, the bell crank 29 is locked against return movement and the door is held open.

When it is desired to close the door, the outer end of lever 43 is moved slightly to the left as viewed in FIG. 3. This places member 49 in such position that spring 21 then causes the lever 43 to be biased clockwise by the arm 35. Accordingly, the door 19, wire 23, bell crank 29 and lever 43 are moved back to their FIG. 1 position by spring 21.

It will be seen that the mechanism of this invention, while very economical in construction, efifectively opens a door and is automatically self-locking when moved to one position.

In view of the foregoing, it will be seen that the several objects and other advantages are achieved.

Although only one embodiment of the invention has been disclosed and described, it is apparent that other embodiments and modifications of the invention are possible.

I claim:

1. In an air conditioning unit having a door movable between open and closed positions, a mechanism for moving said door between said open and closed positions comprising a support having a front, a back and sidewall portions, a first member pivotably connected to said support adjacent the front thereof, biasing means biasing said door toward one of its said positions, said first mem ber having two legs extending away from its pivot point, means extending through one of said side wall portions connecting said one of said legs of said first member to said door, the other leg having one elongated edge portion, a lever pivotably connected to said support adjacent the back thereof and movable between first and second portions, means on said lever engaging said edge portion, said lever, when moved from said first position toward the second position, causing first member to pivot and move said door from one of its said positions to the other, said biasing means biasing said door toward one of its said positions when said lever is in its second position and said door is in its other position and causing said first member to apply a force tending to maintain the lever in its second position, said biasing means, when said lever is moved away from its second position toward its first position, moving said lever to its first position.

2. In an air conditioning unit as set forth in claim 1, said other leg having a first and second portion of approximately equal length, said means on said lever engaging .said edge portion engaging said second portion of said References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 443,804 12/1890 Stamm 49-324 X 458,730 9/1891 Cole 49-324 X J. KARL BELL, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 22036 

